716th Railway Operating Battalion - Fleishman

1st Sgt Carl Flieshman 716th Railway Battalion 

This belonged to First Sergeant Carl F. Flieshman (ASN: 39118130) who served with the 1st Military Railway Service, 716th Railway Operating Battalion during World War 2. 

Full Name Carl F Fleishman

Army Serial Number 39118130

Enlistment Place San Francisco California

Enlistment Date23 Dec 1942

Army Branch Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA

Branch Army 

Race Or Ethnicity White

Residence SanLuis Obispo County, California

Scrapbook: The scrapbook is filled with over 100 photos, newspaper clippings, command events, menus of locations in France and many more. There is a lot of official documentation like rosters, promotion notices, travel orders and tickets and so on. A Lot of reading and research is to be had with this scrapbook! 

Photo Album: This album contains hundreds of personal photos belonging to First Sergeant Flieshman, as well as his brother. There are pictures of the Flieshman brothers scattered throughout the album, as well as being seen together while in France at Metz. The photos mostly feature trains and other railway related scenes. There are many pictures of war torn landscapes, cities, train car crashes and so on. The most interesting photos are the ones of the victory parade in Paris and pictures of French General Charles de Gaulle, who would eventually go on to be the President of France for 10 years. 

One of the most historically significant items in the album is an original telegram dated December 20, 1944 and was addressed to the 716th Railway Operating Battalion in Paris. It is a notice alerting the guards and men of the 716th that German paratroopers were seen wearing American and British paratrooper uniforms. 

The original telegram is as follows: 12/20/44 710TH RWY GRD DIV PARIS 716ROB PARIS. PARACHUTISTS ARE DROPPING IN FOWARD AREAS DRESSED IN AMERICAN AND BRITISH UNIFORMS USING MOTOR AND RAIL TRANSPORTATIONS TO REAR AREAS. CHECK ALL TRAINS CAREFULLY APPREHENDING ANYONE ACTING IN SUSPICIOUS MANNER. C-157 CRILL—---0115. 

This telegram is in reference to Operation Grief, a special operation commanded by Waffen-SS commando Otto Skorzeny during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. The operation was the brainchild of Adolf H, and its purpose was to capture one or more of the bridges over the Meuse river before they could be destroyed. German soldiers, wearing captured British and U.S. Army uniforms and using captured Allied vehicles, were to cause confusion in the rear of the Allied lines. A lack of vehicles, uniforms and equipment limited the operation and it never achieved its original aim of securing the Meuse bridges